Attorney Prakash Ramadhar wants the $1 million dollar ex-gratia payments for the Paria divers to be made by April 14th.

The call was made at a media conference this morning, where Mr Ramadhar explained that it should be done before the election since there is no certainty as to what will happen after April 28th.

He appealed to the Finance Minister to act urgently in delivering the payments or face legal action.

He added that no monies from this payment will be used to pay legal fees, since this issue was pursued as a pro bono matter.

Mr Ramadhar represented relatives for two of the families during the Commission of Enquiry into the Paria Diving Tragedy.

The ex-gratia payments meanwhile was promised last week by Prime Minister Stuart Young, who said one million dollars each will be given to lone survivor Christopher Boodram and the families of Fyzal Kurban, Yusuf Henry, Rishi Nagessar and Kazim Ali Jr.

Meanwhile, Celisha Kurban, wife of Fyzal Kurban welcomed the “long overdue” ex-gratia payment from the Prime Minister.

She said the majority of the payment ($600,000) will be used to pay her daughter’s university fees to complete her 5-year Mechanical Engineering degree in Canada.

Mrs Kurban explained that the past few years have been financially challenging, adding that she even sold assets to meet the deadlines for her daughter’s tuition fees.

She said her daughter chose to pursue these studies before her father’s death as she wanted to follow in his footsteps, noting that finances for her daughter’s tuition were never an issue prior to her husband’s death.